He Died with No One's Regret

We have probably all been to a funeral home at some point in time to stop by and pay our respects to the family members who have lost a loved one. When we make an appearance at the visitation or the funeral, it is a way for us to show that the individual was special to us, or it can also be a way to show our support for the family members whom we might know. What would happen if someone from our community died and no one showed up to Oakes and Nichols to pay their respects? That would be awful! It would appear that it didn’t really matter to anyone that this individual had departed from this life. Wouldn’t that be awful if no one regretted your death?

Believe it or not there was a king of Judah who died with no one’s regret. His name was Jehoram, and he wound up paying the price for being an evil king. Let us take a look at what led up to this description in 2 Chronicles 21 of Jehoram’s death. One of the first evil things that Jehoram did was kill his brothers with the sword (4). Next, he struck down the Edomites who revolted against the rule of Judah (8-9) [this was probably for the same reason that Libnah revolted against his rule, “because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers” (10)]. Next, he made the high places in Judah’s mountains which caused Judah to play the harlot (12).

Elijah finally writes a letter to Jehoram which told him a great calamity was going to come upon his people, his sons, his wives and his possessions and he himself would suffer from a bowel disease because of the evil he had committed (12-15). All of this plays out just as Elijah said. The Lord stirred up the Philistines and Arabs who invaded Judah and carried away all the king’s possessions, his wives and his children except Jehoahaz who was the youngest son (16-17). God struck Jehoram with the bowel disease so that his bowels eventually came out at the end of two years, which was a very painful death (18-19).

It is in the aftermath of all of this where we find the recorded words:

And his people made no fire for him like the fire for his fathers. He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years; and he departed with no one’s regret, and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings (19-20)

Because of the evil he had done, Jehoram wasn’t given a proper funeral or burial. There is a country song titled “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone.” That wasn’t the case in this story. He literally died without the regrets of others. Let us realize the impacts that our lives have on others. I don’t know of a more insulting phrase about someone’s death than “...he departed with no one’s regret...” (20).